r, but again warned Jaap, so that he might
know what to expect. And the whole family soon learnt that Van der
Welcke had been to the Van Saetzemas' and threatened Jaap; and all the
members of the family had their different opinions, all except Mamma van
Lowe, who was not told, who was always spared the revelation of any
unpleasantness, from a sort of reverence on her children's part, so that
she really lived and reigned over them in a sort of illusion of harmony
and close communion. And Constance also was not told, remained gently
happy, gently contented, with that calm, sweet sadness in her face and
soul which was the reflection of her moods. On the following Sunday,
however, merely knowing that Addie was still angry with Jaap, she said,
at lunch:

"Addie, won't you go to the three boys to-day and make it up with Jaap?"

But Addie gave a decided refusal:

"I'll do anything to please you, Mamma, but I'll never go back to those
boys."

Constance lost her temper:

"So on account of what you yourself call a boys' quarrel--about a
cat--you wish to remain on bad terms with the children of your mother's
sister!"

Addie took fright: it was true, the cause seemed very unreasonable.

But Van der Welcke, himself irritable under the restraint which he had
been imposing upon himself, said, trembling all over:

"I don't choose, Constance, that Addie should continue to go about with
those boys."

His determined manner brought her temper seething up; and all her gentle
calmness vanished:

"And I choose," she exclaimed, "that Addie should make friends with
them!"

"Mamma, I can't, really!"

"Constance, it's impossible."

Though she was quivering in all her nerves, there was something in the
manifest determination of them both that calmed her. But she grew
suspicious:

"Tell me why you quarrelled. If you can't make it up, then it wasn't
about a cat."

"Let us first have our lunch in peace, if possible," said Van der
Welcke. "I'll tell you everything presently, at least if you can be
calm."

He realized that he could no longer keep her in ignorance. She collected
all her strength of mind to remain cool. After lunch, when she was alone
with her husband, she said:

"Now tell me what it is all about."

"On one condition, that you keep calm. I want to avoid a scene if I
possibly can, if only for the sake of our boy, who has been very
unhappy."

"I am quite calm. Tell me what it is. Why has he been unhappy?"

He